This week at REI, our guest speakers will be members and friends, Spanky Macher and Jamie Bailey, who will be hosting an REI of Virginia University brainstorming meeting.

Last year we did a group flip and were unable to allow more than 6 people to be part of it even though there were many more who wished to be included. When all was said and done we all made a nice profit.

At this meeting we will be discussing a potential of doing another modified version of this money making program and offering training to members on how to fix up a flip property.

The purpose of the meeting is to determine desire for both getting involved in another group flip with very little down and to see if there are people within our membership that are interested in learning how to rehab real estate. An extremely valuable skill. It doesn’t matter if you ever physically use it again, you will make money by your knowledge.

Knowing what various aspects of a rehab take to get done and how long it takes to do it is invaluable as it arms you with the needed information to protect yourself from contractors pulling a fast one on you and charging you an arm and a leg for a simple easy job.

Another objective of this meeting is to outline how the whole thing goes down. Who gets paid what, how many investors are needed, what type of flip house in what kind of neighborhood, what benefits the wholesaler to bring a deal to the table, what does the project manager get paid and whoever takes the roll of the treasurer, what is the cost to those who will enroll in REI University and how much does the instructor get paid for their time? Lots of questions to get answers for. It’s going to be a fun project!

Those of you who have never done a flip before and are only involved in an investor capacity will also have a great opportunity to learn from people who have been there and done that by watching at the sidelines.

If you potentially have an interest in learning to rehab property, don’t miss this meeting. The education will be priceless from people who are currently or have been in the trenches. And allot of this stuff is hard to learn on your own because when you get a job in plumbing, electrical, framing, etc., you end up begin the man on the bottom of the totem pole if you’re a novice so it’s hard to get the one on one training to actually learn the ropes.

Those of our members who already know the ropes in various trades, please be sure to come to the meeting and if you can’t make it please contact one of the 2 above to participate as an investor, instructor or both. We’re looking for people with skill sets in all forms of construction. Framing, electrical, hvac, plumbing, siding, flooring, landscaping, roofing, you name it.

Roger and I are headed out to Belize soon and will be gone for a while so I’m writing this email to you a little early. So don’t email me regarding this project as I will not have access to this email address from Belize. As of now the following week is open which could mean that it will be one of our moderated forums which are always educational. Or it could be a follow up meeting to the upcoming REI U meeting.

Those of you who are interested in getting involved in this very low investment flip, But can’t make it to the meeting… please contact Spanky or Jamie.

I happen to know that there are a number of people that wanted in on that last deal that have never been to a meeting. You’re more than welcome to participate in any capacity.

Ladies and Gentlemen…. ding ding…. I would like to introduce our President, Andy Stowasser, and our CEO, Roger Malouf for an educational meeting with you this week teaching the most valuable skill of Mental Arm Wrestling, AKA, Negotiations.

The big difference between physical arm wrestling and mental arm wrestling is that the little guy or gal can actually win!!!

Negotiation is a part of your every day life. More so in other countries where haggling for a price on everything is a standard of life. Some people don’t like it. They don’t enjoy the game of haggling. I’m guessing that the reason may be that they don’t feel like they typically end up winning this game of the minds as a result of not being trained in this most essential skill.

It’s important to fully understand and comprehend the basic principals of negotiations in order to be able to look at the big picture of any situation and be able to determine what angle you will take to fulfill your primary objective. Which in the case of getting deals in real estate would be to obtain the property for the rock bottom lowest possible price. Or the other way around, to sell your property for the highest possible price.

In doing so one of the most important parts of the equation is for both parties to be happy with the final agreement.

Come on out to our meeting this Tuesday to get a walk through on the principals of negotiations so you can clearly see the roadmap on how you get from point A to point B with the result you desire.

Don’t Miss It! - Be There Or Be Square… and prepare for a good sized turnout.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

For your information. We DO NOT typically do background checks on any of the speakers that we have that attend our meetings. Some of them are there to sell you services. It is advised that you do your own background check on these individuals before using them. Or get some good referrals.

REI IS NOT RECOMMENDING ANY of the people that we have come speak at the group. We allow them to come and educate us on their line of work.

Members have had problems with group speakers in the past. For example that guy that came a year or so ago to talk about collecting money on judgements. Shortly after he took money from some of our members and they never heard from him again.

There are ways to do business with people and keep them on the up and up. Be smart. You’re best off to never prepay for ANY service. And if money is required for materials, or court costs for that service, you can directly pay for those materials or court costs. In the example of court costs, you can write the check directly to be cashed by the courthouse rather than those who are providing the service. Or with materials needed for a job, you can have Lowes or Home Depot call you and you give your credit card over the phone if you don’t have the ability to go down there to pay.

There’s no problem with lightening up some once you have deemed the company you are working with to be honest and reliable.

Sooo,

DONT prepay for ANY service.

DONT hand over ANY money for materials or costs of doing business until you can trust the person. There are other options for continuing business other than putting that money in their hands.

Street Smarts… Unfortunately that is the world we live in today. American Culture is changing for the bad. There are MANY people out there trying to get one over on you. You have to protect yourself by using some basic ground rules of doing business. You’re the one who dictates how it will be handled and if they have a problem with that they can go find another sucker.